Have a Better Bowel Movement Today!

Have a Better Bowel Movement Today!

There is a number of factors that lead to poor bowel movement. There is stress, dysfunction of the digestive system, and consumption of cooked food which sticks to your intestinal walls and lacks in fiber. Besides maximizing your intake of waterful raw foods , there is one more surprising thing you can do. It is so simple and works so fast that you will see improvement in your bowel movements the very same day:

when you “do your business”, change your position away from a sitting one and closer to a squatting one. Why? Because you experience less elimination if you sit instead of squat.

Problems of Incomplete Elimination

Here’s the issue… When you experience recurring incomplete elimination, paired with constant extraction of water, sticky fecal matter is guaranteed to remain on the intestinal walls. Need more reasons not to poop sitting down? If you add in the extra strain exerted on your bowels, toss in increased risk of diverticulitis, hemorrhoids, varicose veins, and inflammatory bowel disease, and the case for squatting is really starting to flow.

Puborectalis Muscle

When you sit on a toilet, the puborectalis muscle (which helps the rectum maintain continence) still remains pressed around the rectum. You have to push harder and longer to counteract that pressure. Squatting, by contrast, relaxes the puborectalis muscle and straightens the rectum, making for more complete, efficient elimination.

Bringing Back Squatting

We need to re-learn squatting if we want to really be serious about our health.

So what do you do? If you live in Eastern Europe or Southeast Asia, then you are likely familiar with squat style toilets and can try to use them more often than sit down ones.

But what about those of us in the West where squat toilets are almost unheard of? No, you don’t need to dig holes in your back yard or remove your toilet bowl. All you need do, in fact, is raise your feet off the floor while you sit. If you or a household member are handy, you can easily construct a device to place under your feet to effectively deepen your sit into a squat—six inches will do nicely. In a pinch, place your feet on a stepping stool or a couple of phone books—at last, a good use for the yellow pages!—or the rungs of a chair.

Do "The Thinker" When You Have No Other Choice

If you’re a guest in a friend’s home or somewhere else outside your own realm, you can simply try a new pose: Rodin’s The Thinker. You know that most famous of sitting sculptural dudes—elbow on knee, fist under chin. The point: Anything will do that deepens your position beyond sitting towards the squat.

There’s even more to this squatting business. Quite apart from matters fecal, the fact is that squatting for even a few minutes a day is an aid to the body at large. It stretches muscles that rarely get the action they should. Yoga practice offers the Squat Pose, described as a pose of balance, strength, stretch, focus, breath and internal change. And, significantly, a relaxer.

Dear Tonya, I have been a big fan of yours since 2010. I have read all of your books and have given away many copies of your book Raw Food and Hot Yoga. I tried and tried but didn't become fully raw until this year and... Read more